Puerto Rico wants to diversify its economy, official says

Puerto Rico's secretary of economic development and trade, Alberto Baco Bague, said in an interview with Efe here that the island wants to move toward a more balanced and diversified economy with more weight on services, tourism and agriculture after its heretofore "total" dependence on the manufacturing sector.

Puerto Rico's economy is in a process of transformation that will give greater presence to new sectors, given that currently 50 percent of the island's income comes from manufacturing, something that creates great dependence on that sector, Baco said.

Tourism, agriculture and services are the segments that the island wants to promote and, to do that, the Puerto Rican government is pushing for "aggressive" fiscal laws that will allow the establishment of businesses, Baco said.

Those regulations will allow the "fiscal autonomy" accorded to Puerto Rico by its status as a U.S. commonwealth, a situation that the government is not intending to modify, the official said.

"Our government is completely in favor of maintaining the status we have. The commonwealth is an extraordinary tool for economic development and we're testing it with all the projects we're promoting," Baco said.

In the past "there were those who said the commonwealth's moment had passed. It's not that way. What's happening is that there were so many changes of government and many years in which whoever governed Puerto Rico didn't believe in it that they didn't adequately use the tools the commonwealth provides," Baco said.

Puerto Rico has a "high" level of indebtedness, but the island's economy is "at an inflection point" that will give way to growth, Baco added.

Over the next two years, there are investment projects totaling $12 billion in the works, a situation that will increase the gross domestic product and will allow the debt to be reduced, he said.

Bond investors who participated in the auction in March, when $3.5 billion in bonds were sold, showed that they have confidence in the fact that Puerto Rico "is going to pay its debts," Baco said. EFE

Puerto Rico wants to diversify its economy, official says